Greek island cruise or self tour

Old Oct 8th, 2015, 12:50 PM
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Greek island cruise or self tour

My family wants to visit several Greek islands and wondered the best wat to see them? Cruise vs self tour... Anyone have any recommendations?
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Old Oct 8th, 2015, 01:00 PM
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Why do you want to see the islands? The mainland and Peloponnes have MUCH more to offer in every respect.
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Old Oct 8th, 2015, 01:04 PM
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My suggestion would be to decide whether you want a mostly sea experience, a cruise, or a land experience and use the ferries. I prefer the latter, use ferries to travel between islands where I stay for several days (at least) each. I find it much more satisfying. But it depends on the emphasis you prefer and if you like flexibilty or prefer a packaged experience.
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Old Oct 8th, 2015, 01:23 PM
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This kind of inquiry depends on what you mean by "best". You might have thought it is intuitive, but if you think about it, "best" is contextual and ambiguous.


If "best" = least amount of work on your side before the trip, then book a cruise. You are bound by what they offer, how much time they give you on each island, rush rush back to your boat before they leave. Island like Santorini requires a lot of time to make it back to the boat.

If "best" = ability to choose how long you care to spend on each island at accommodation of your choice, then do it on your own.

If "best" = fastest, then you would want to fly. But this limits you to islands with airports and moreover, you cannot fly directly between islands in general. You must back-track to Athens. You can also connect nearby islands by boats and fly to/from Athens for further away islands with airports.
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Old Oct 8th, 2015, 03:23 PM
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You will have a more Greek experience by staying at least a few days on each island, taking ferries between them.
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Old Oct 8th, 2015, 03:35 PM
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We are spending a week in Athens and my sons wanted to explore islands. I'm thinking using the ferries and spending some extended time at 3 islands
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Old Oct 9th, 2015, 06:42 AM
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Any recommendations for the three islands we should consider?
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Old Oct 9th, 2015, 06:58 AM
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Because it stopped at other places I wanted to see for only a day, I did a cruise of the Greek Islands. If you want any of the individual island experience, do not take a cruise. A brief walk about or tour does not let you experience any of the ambience of that island. Stay at least a night or two on any island you go to. Take a ferry or fly if that is possible.

Which islands? Each offers something different, need to know your requirements.

How old are your sons? What do they Iike to do? Interests? In their twenties? Want to party a bit? Into history? Want to see archeological sites? Outdoors, scenery, hiking? Water activities? Swimming, boating, diving?
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Old Oct 9th, 2015, 07:52 AM
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I've done both and would never do the cruises again. Islands are there to "slow down" time; with the cruises it's all about "checking destinations off the list", a very limited time on the island. Furthermore, rarely do cruises let you overnight in an island; and the islands are at their best at sundown and after sunset.

Honestly I've come to the thinking that in high season I would avoid any island that has an airport or a cruise ship port.

All my personal opinion of course.
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Old Oct 9th, 2015, 11:17 AM
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With Greek island cruises starting in April, it is very difficult to avoid being on cruise port islands at the same time during the warm season. It seemed that since the lions share of cruises leave Istanbul, Venice, Athens, etc, on Saturdays, followed by Sundays, the weekends seem to have less number of cruise boats in port at popular islands like Santorini or Mykonos. When 5 or more ginormous cruise ships are in port unloading thousands of passengers per boat, you would not want to spend time in main towns. Budget cruises seem to leave islands before the dinner time.

There are many islands for different interests. In the end, one need to choose depending on:

What each island offers within your budget matching your interest.

While mindful of other constraints:
- How you can connect them. Some connections are very sparse - less than once a day and that can also be cancelled = stranded.
- How you travel to/from where you live. If you are flying in/out, you will probably pass through Athens both ways. It is risky to be on an island to make a connection back in Athens on departure day unless all the plane bookings are on the same reservation and ever more so if you are ending up in a more remote island.
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Old Oct 21st, 2015, 04:21 PM
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My sons are 19 and 21 and are more interested in history and some partying
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Old Oct 21st, 2015, 04:23 PM
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They are interested in seeing Crete for sure and Delos. Wondering what islands would be interesting.
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Old Oct 21st, 2015, 07:27 PM
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If your sons are interested in a bit of partying on islands, you cannot take a cruise, because they most often mandate you back on board by evening, to sail to the next port. And they would be stuck on a cruise ship with all those greyhaired people, ewwww.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2015, 01:09 AM
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From your comments it's clear to me you should avoid a cruise.

Crete is a huge island, and your sons would only see a tiny part of it during the few hours the ship stops at (probably) Heraklion. Some cruises stop at Mykonos during hours when it is impossible to visit Delos.

I couldn't choose words better than travelerjan about partying opportunities for your sons. Most clubs don't even get busy until after midnight, so your sons would miss all the fun. You would miss the activities earlier in the evening, when people stroll around town, then settle down for drinks and dinner at sidewalk restaurants. That's half the fun of being on the Greek Islands.

Greece has such an excellent ferry system that cruises are unnecessary. Much better to spend a few hours on a ferry and a few days on each island than vice-versa.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2015, 07:13 AM
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Thanks, we are bagging the cruise idea and will take ferries to the islands.

Any recommendations on must see islands? We want to see three.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2015, 08:44 AM
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It is not very clear to me, will you have only a week to check three islands? I think it would be more realistic to make those one or two if so, especially if you include Crete on the plan....
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Old Oct 28th, 2015, 03:07 AM
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Any hotel recommendations for Athens, Crete, Mykonos and Santorini?
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Old Oct 28th, 2015, 10:20 AM
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Marge,
You need to stop asking for recommendations for hotels, untl u get your trip priorities straight. l gather this trip is not until Spring 2016 at least (BTW, it really helps if you give approximate dates, because advice can differ greatly for High season vs Off-season) ... so you have time to do some homework and learn more, so you are not locking in an itinerary based on lack of facts or understanding.

It sounds as if you have 2 weeks -- you say you plan to do a full week on Athens and afterwards cover 3 islands in 6 days. Those of us who've visited Greece a few times would advise to reverse the process and reallocate time. I'm guessing you are flying from US (one of the missing facts), and believe me you're tired after a trip of 10 - 16 hours. Don't plunge right into the busyness of a major city. We usually suggest to stay right in the airport, jump on a domestic flight to your farthest island, then ferry your way back, ending with Athens. Several reasons (1) you avoid the time-wasting of going in to Central Athens TWICE.. just do it at the end and (2) if you first do the isles, you'll "ease into" a new country & culture and be more able to efficiently enjoy Athens at the end, and (3)no worries if a transport glitch leaves you on an island when your homebound plane is departing.

ALSO -- if you want to see THREE islands, you should cut back your Athens time to 3-4 days... this will allow a minimum of 3 days per isle.

As for your choices -- it sounds as if you have just bought into the "cookie-cutter" approach taken by Cruise Lines and US travel agents. They always push those same destinations (one big reason is that cruise ships can only stop at a few deep-water ports, so TA's push them as most desirable; also those are the most costly so they'll collect bigger commissions). Do you really know whether those will please you most??

Some factors: CRETE is really more like a Country than an island-- its over 160 miles long, and to even sample it adequately takes 5 days, a car, and being on the move, 1-2 nights in 3 different places. If you really want Crete, I'd suggest to fly there from ATH airport to Chania, spend 5 days(lots of history + good beaches), then take a fast-ferry from Heraklion to Santorini for 3 days (history, good partying, not good beaches), then ferry back to ATH for 3-4 days (history, parties).

Why not go to the library & get some guidebooks, like (1) Let's Go Greece, aimed at your sons' age-group, plus (2) a good overall pictorial, EyeWitness: the Greek Islands (plus Athens) it also shows the ferry routes; (3) Rough Guide to Greece has few photos (that's what internet is for) but tons of details, and candid assessments of what's worth a visit and what is not. If you're paying for this trip (and I bet you are), you can mandate that your 2 guys do some homework too, and voice opinions.

Finally, your hotel choices should come AFTER you figure out your itinerary and the logistics. Worst thing is to lock yourself in to some hotels, and then change your sequence.
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Old Oct 28th, 2015, 02:46 PM
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NOTE re CRETE: when I said fly to Chania & spend 5 days I didn't mean in that town (tho it is one of the most beautiful in Greece), I meant 5 days in Crete ... you can drive s. to Libyan sea & then NW toward Heraklion ... the latter port is the only port w. ferries to Santorini.
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Old Nov 16th, 2015, 01:10 PM
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Thanks for the info. We plan on 2 week holiday. Planning to go to islands first and end in Athens. Yes we are flying from Pennsylvania and plan to visit middle of May 2016. We don't want to make hotel arrangements yet. Just wanted some names of decent hotels. We wondered if we could make arrangements as we go as we wanted the ability to alter itinerary if needed. We don't want to rush from place to place, but want to enjoy our trip. Any ideas would be great.
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